Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Deputy Chief Executive.

The report presents the work carried out during the past year to minimise the risk of fraud, bribery and corruption occurring in the Council. This supports the requirements of the Accounts and Audit Regulations (England) 2011, which state that the Council must have measures in place “to enable the prevention and detection of inaccuracies and fraud.” In this context, we have taken fraud also to refer to cases of bribery and corruption.

That the Audit Committee considers and comments upon the annual fraud report as part of its monitoring role.

Officer Contact: John Pearsall on Tel: 0161 474 4033 or email: john.pearsall@stockport.gov.uk.

A representative of the Borough Treasurer submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) outlining the work carried out during the previous year to minimise the risk of fraud, bribery and corruption occurring in the Council. This supported the requirements of the Accounts and Audit Regulations (England) 2011, which stated that the Council must have measures in place “to enable the prevention and detection of inaccuracies and fraud.”

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         The importance of protecting personal budgets in order to support individuals with their wellbeing and independence was emphasised, as the alternative was institutional care which was often more costly to the authority.

·         As part of the National Fraud Initiative the Internal Audit team was required to review anomalies in matched data from the Cabinet Office. It was noted that not all of the anomalies were fraudulent activity and the Internal Audit team had to make judgments on the level of risk to ensure time was managed effectively.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.